Leipzig's soaring attacking trident harkens back towards what once was
As we were lounging on our living room sofa, watching Ivory Coast dump Burkina Faso out of AFCON, my housemate asked me a wonderfully simple question. A question that only someone who very loosely followed the sport, would ever really think of asking:
“Who are the best front 3’s in the world right now?”
It’s a normal question to ask, but for some reason it felt alien to hear because I hadn’t heard or seen this topic discussed in years. I thought hard, scouring through the attacking options of Europe’s best teams in my brain and began to realise that there really weren’t many to choose from. I settled on Bayern Munich’s trio of Diaz-Kane-Olise and paid homage to Barcelona’s lineup of Raphinha-Lewandowski-Yamal, but besides that… No other options were screaming out to me. Every other trio has a question mark next to its name. Whether it was due to lack of synergy and cohesion (Real Madrid) or they hadn’t spent enough time playing together (Man City), there were no other trios I could think of.
My friend, who paid enough attention to the sport to know the biggest names and stories regarding it, remarked that he could’ve sworn there were tons more growing up. I realised he was right.
Thinking back to the footballing landscape across the last decade, it seemed almost every big club across the continent were synonymous with at least some resemblance of a front three which on a good day, could win games on its own. Yes there was MSN and BBC, but there was also:
Hazard-Costa-Pedro (Chelsea)
Reus-Aubameyang-Mkhitaryan (Borussia Dortmund)
Insigne-Higuain-Metens (Napoli)
Salah-Firmino-Mane (Liverpool)
Ribery-Lewandowski-Robben (Bayern Munich)
Sane-Aguero-Sterling (Man City)
Mbappe-Falcao-Silva (Monaco)
Alli-Kane-Eriksen (Spurs)
Cavani-Ibrahimovic-Di Maria (PSG)
Vitolo-Gameiro-Sarabia (Sevilla)
Even amongst the Premier League sides during the ‘Barclays’ times. I hark back to the days of Tadic, Mane and Pelle or Lukaku, Deolofeu and Mirallas causing havoc on my screen as I tucked into some Match of the Day on Sunday morning. Perhaps this is pure nostalgia bias but I remember front threes being so much more potent, so much more dangerous and exciting all those years ago. Surely there’s at least one currently out there who can match up to the array of contrasting showpieces from yesteryear?
Antonio Nusa (20), Romulu Cruz (23), Yan Diomande (19) - RB Leipzig
Perhaps they aren’t yet at that elite level of the trios I’ve previously mentioned, 21 goal contributions between them in 44 games certainly doesn’t jump off the page. But they’re also a far bit younger than the trios I previously mentioned. And, like these trios - they are a trident of attacking firepower, fast and powerful, with a mental understanding of each other’s playstyles and talents making them a collective able to decide games with sudden moments of genius.
I wouldn’t be surprised if in two or three years time, a SPORTBIBLE post comes out saying ‘just a reminder that Romulo Cruz, Yan Diomande and Antonio Nusa were once all in the same team’ or something along those lines. Because these three players have all the talent in the world to go and make themselves household names on the European stage. And sadly, there’s little chance they’re all still playing together next season.
Romulo Cruz hit 27 goal contributions in 33 games in his last season in Turkey. Image via @OrcunAkten on X
Romulo Cruz is a 6ft 4 Brazilian striker signed from Turkish side Göztepe last season. But he doesn’t play like you’d imagine a 6ft 4 striker would. He’s a creative forward who can dance and weave past players whilst bringing his other attacking counterparts into play with neat and flashy passes round the corner. He likes to drop deep and help his team in buildup wherever possible. But his tall frame still allows him to be that focal point in attack, holding off centre-backs, winning aerial duels and causing problems in the box. The striker has 7/a in 13 games for Leipzig this season but he’s much more than what’s read out on a statsheet. There’s that Brazilian flair in his game through cute touches and body feints and when you pair it with his size and unselfishness in attacking areas, you’ve got the makings of a striker a lot of sides will be sniffing around come the summer.
Flanking him on the left is Nusa who’s enjoying his second season at Leipzig having been signed from Club Brugge in the 2024 summer. Around a week ago in a press conference, Pep Guardiola was describing the evolution of wingers in the modern game when referring to City’s recent purchase of Antoine Semenyo:
“Today and in the future, you see for example PSG, Real Madrid, Barcelona - with Lamine Yamal. Today the modern winger is like a ‘Sane’ type - tall, long legs, incredibly fast like Antoine [Semenyo]. Energy, pace in behind, one against one [ability] is massively important for the transition, it’s true.”
I have a feeling Pep would like Antonio Nusa, a lot.
Nusa and Cruz celebrating Nusa’s goal together. Image via @EKscouting
What stands out immediately when you watch Nusa is that he looks taller than most wingers. Only 5 '11’’, but with long legs that make him appear as though his height is more substantial than it is, he is the template Pep was describing to a tee because he boasts the athleticism to accelerate and decelerate quickly whilst also being extremely difficult to catch over long distances. The Norwegian is direct and powerful and is always aiming to take his man on. He has the ability to beat players in a variety of different ways due to great close control whilst running at pace and there’s the fact he can cut in and bend shots on his sledgehammer of a right-foot or get to the byline and whip a multitude of different types of crosses in. Nusa’s main problem is, and always has been his output. Only 2 goals and 2 assists this season in 15 games, 5 and 6 in 31 last season. It’s far from great. But there’s little to be worried about because are there many wingers in football history who’ve been the complete package by the time they were 20?
Well, funnily enough, Nusa’s opposite number might just be one of them. Yan Diomande typically plays on the right-flank and he’s already Leipzig’s best player. But the Ivorian is a left-winger and so when you consider that he’s been one of the best attackers in Europe playing on the wrong side of the pitch, you begin to get a hint at the level of player we’re dealing with here.
Diomande is easily the jewel of Leipzig’s front three. He’s the youngest, most inexperienced but somehow the most well-rounded. The 19 year old combines power, craft and flair with a unique ambipedal ability to form the sort of winger that seems as though he was made in a lab.
Image via @RBLeipzig_EN on X
Full-backs hate wingers who can use both feet. Diomande is more two-footed than most and runs like his feet aren’t touching the ground. Nobody, not the fans in the stadium watching, not the defender he’s facing up - knows what he’s going to do whilst he’s in possession because (to use NBA terms) his bag is limitless. He dribbles like a man possessed, never going sideways or backwards, just consistently making a b-line straight for his full-back’s pride. Stuck out on the touchline? Tucked away in the half-spaces? Diomande can make his opponents look stupid wherever he is and his team’s chances of scoring go up rapidly when he gets the ball whether it’s through him skipping past 3 players or putting in a wicked cross right through the heart of the defence. 10 goal contributions in 16 games whilst being one of the most entertaining players in Europe to watch, all just after turning 19.
Statistically, eye-test, his work-rate. This is the making of a future great.
Coaches now like to utilise every tool at their disposal in an attacking sense. Inverting or underlapping full-backs, set-pieces, death by 1000 passes. This trio are to me, a reminder of what existed in football before tactics replaced the players as the pillars of the beautiful game. These three are powerful, they’re direct and they’re relentless. Each of them are stars in the making and when in full-flow they’re impossible to stop. At a time where iconic attacking trios are growing less and less frequent, RB Leipzig have one that if they stayed together just for another two years, would be on their way to becoming just that.
